Motor House Arts has had the pleasure of working with AfterGraft from Newcastle over the last few weeks, and beginning what promises to be a fruitful period of collaboration. We’ve also welcomed two recent graduates from Northumbria University’s Furniture and Product Design course, Daisy Brantley and Henry Chantler, and who this week commencing the 30th June 2026 are showing their work at the New Designers exhibition at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, and Joe Robinson, 3rd year student at Northumbria currently on work placement at a steel fabrication company in Northallerton.
Our discussions around the nature of contemporary furniture design and methodology, and its various applications, whether in industry or small-scale workshops, has led to the beginnings of frameworks for future practice uniquely observant of the particular qualities and strengths of the North, and how collectively we can embrace the changes taking place within regional government to create new opportunities for young designers, and also for those who have not had access to training, by creating new platforms for engagement with furniture design in the North.
We also had the pleasure of welcoming Lula Rousseau and Kit Derbyshire from London, and Fyn Duncan, the lead for the Young Furniture Makers Society, from Oxford.
Looking forward to all collaborative discussions with the AfterGraft team, and Henry, Daisy, Joe, Lula, Kit, Fyn and the YFMS, the universities of Northumbria and York St John, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated of significant developments.
